


Like a flower in the desert

by ThisBirdWithoutACage



Category: Bad Samaritan (2018)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Blood and Violence, Cale is his own warning, Canon Compliant, Captivity, Family Issues, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Kidnapping, Mentioned Derek Sandoval, Mentioned Riley Seabrook, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:00:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29977041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisBirdWithoutACage/pseuds/ThisBirdWithoutACage
Summary: "I had to grow in the cruelest weather, holding onto every drop of rain just to stay alive." - Christy Ann MartinKatie's life changes forever when he enters the restaurant.
Relationships: Cale Erendreich & Katie Hopgood, Katie Hopgood & Others, Sean Falco & Katie Hopgood





	Like a flower in the desert

**Author's Note:**

> I basically started writing this when I saw the movie last December, and now it's mostly done. I almost have the last few chapters written out. This fandom is so small, but I knew I just had to contribute a little bit. Apparently my love for David Tennant knows no bounds, even when he is being a creepy, psychopathic, serial killer. 
> 
> But regardless, I hope you stick with this. This fandom is so niche, I often wonder why I do this to myself. Still, if you would like to comment, feel free to do so! Feedback is always appreciated!
> 
> Happy readings!

“Oh no…”

The sound of her coworker’s groan of defeat catches her attention immediately. The woman leans on the podium next to her, and Katie follows her mournful gaze to where a man is currently sitting in her section. When she finally notices what it is, she can’t help but feel slightly confused.

She doesn’t see what is so deserving of such a great sigh. It’s only a man sitting at the white linen table, nothing strange about that. The only things she could see as slightly strange is the way he inspects the tablecloth with his long fingers, lips twisting in a way that lets everyone know he is displeased.

“Okay?...”

“You don’t understand, Katie,” her coworker, Kayla, whispers to her. “He came in two weeks ago. He was in Christine’s section, and he was rude the entire time. Complained about everything, and I mean everything.”

“Seriously?”

“He complained about the food, the service, everything under the sun. I kid you not, he even complained about how his salad fork was slightly crooked. Like, who the hell does that? I found her after he left, sobbing in the back of the kitchen.”

It is unusual, Katie thinks. She’s used to finicky guests, but most of them are usually appeased after a bottle of expensive wine and the attention of a pretty server. Christine is one of the prettiest servers, with a sweet temperament to match. So to say a customer treated her badly is astonishing.

“Did she tell management?”

Kayla snorts. “You think management cares? You should have seen the car he drove. There’s no way management is going to give a damn about our complaints with a customer like him.”

“Right,” Katie trails off, nodding her head. Kayla isn’t entirely wrong. Sometimes it seemed that management cared more about the money coming in than the treatment of their employees. Oh, the joys of capitalism.

“He’s in your section,” Kayla practically hisses, just as the man frowns and glances down at his Rolex watch. “Go on, you’re the brave one. Nothing scares you.”

That isn’t entirely true either, but Katie doesn’t bother to correct her. It wasn’t so much that she feared nothing rather than she knew how to keep her cool. Better to keep a level head and get the customer through their meal than start a fight.

However, looking at this man, she can’t help but feel that she’s in for a challenge. She glances back to Kayla, who shoots her a thumbs up. Kayla won’t be much help in this situation, not that she needs it.

“Hello, welcome to _The Nightingale_ ,” she greets the man pleasantly, the familiar words rolling off her tongue. “My name is Kathleen and I’ll be your server today. Would you like a list of our wines? All of our wines come directly from the vineyard-”

“This tablecloth,” the man cuts her off, holding a hand up to silence her. His fingers are still tracing the linen. “Has a spot on it. Are you aware of how unsanitary that is?”

The way he asks her this makes her stomach twist uneasily. There’s something about his tone, condescending as if she’s a toddler. She looks down at where he’s pointing, trying to find what he finds so appalling.

“I’m sorry, I don’t see anything,” she apologizes to him, and his lips twist into a sneer.

“Are you blind?” he snaps, low enough that only she can hear. At least he has the common sense not to cause a scene. Yet. “It’s right there. You are using your eyes, aren’t you?”

Now that was rude, she thought, but kept her mouth shut. “Sir,” she says politely, but firmly. “I assure you that our tablecloths are cleaned every day. I could, if you would like, see if there are any other tables available if this one isn’t to your liking.”

“You can do that?” he sneers, and there’s a heat rising to her chest. An anger that doesn’t come to her very often. She wants to punch this guy.

“I will be right back,” she replies stiffly, turning quickly on her heel. She’s certain he didn’t see her roll her eyes. But at the podium, Kayla sure did.

“Jesus girl,” Kayla says when Katie finally reaches the podium, eyes wide as she types furiously at the computer’s buttons. “What is he upset about?”

Katie doesn’t answer right away. Instead, she takes a deep breath to reign her anger in. One rude man isn’t worth getting upset over. She’s dealt with worse people than him. As soon as she gets him what he wants, perhaps he’ll be nicer.

She doubts that.

She looks down the screen and bites the inside of her cheek to keep from groaning. “Kayla, please tell me there are more tables?” she asks, hopeful that her co-worker and friend will give her an answer opposite of what the computer is telling her.

“Nope,” Kayla says with a shake of her head. “We’re a full house.”

Shit. Well, it can’t be helped, and this jackass was just going to have to deal with it. Squaring her shoulders back, Katie ventures back to his table. His face is unreadable, but she knows he’s upset.

“I’m sorry,” she apologizes, in all her fake polite customer service voice. “All our tables are full. If you want to wait for another one, you are more than welcome to do so.”

He stares at her, long and hard. She forces herself not to tear her eyes away too quickly, refusing to show any sign that he is making her uncomfortable. She notices now just how dark his eyes are. He’s not unattractive, but there’s something about him that makes her wary. Rude people were simply rude people. However, there’s a voice nagging in the back of her mind to keep her guard up.

“It’ll have to do,” the man finally says, with an air of indignation. “We’ll see if your service is better than the stupid girl who served me last.”

Christine, she thinks and swallows thickly. She’s thankful it’s her other friend’s day off so that she doesn’t have to deal with him. She is unwilling to let this man see her upset, so instead, she lets the anger reduce down to a simmer in her chest. A smile still plastered to her face.

“Would you like to see our list of wi-”

“Martini on the rocks,” he doesn’t even met her gaze now as he hands her the menu, disinterested in her now. “And I want my steak well done. If there’s even the slightest bit of pink in it, I will speak to your manager.”

Great, just what any server wanted to hear. Katie smiles and nods her head, holding the menu so tight she can feel the strain of it. She sets off, practically tossing the menu back into the holder before heading into the kitchen. She immediately receives a sympathetic look as she tells the Head chef who they’re dealing with.

Roberto shakes his head in disbelief. “Is that the guy who made Christine break down?” he asks, and scoffs when she confirms it. “What a fucking dick. Who the hell does he think he is?”

“A rich customer,” the Sous-chef, Sara, points out. “And you know Ross won’t be happy if this guy complains.”

“Not about our Katie,” Roberto laughs. “Miss perfect record here has never gotten a complaint before. And let’s be real, Ross has a soft spot for you.”

“Well, that might change today,” Katie grumbles, cheeks immediately flaring. “Just make sure his steak isn’t pink. I don’t want to have Ross come down here and start getting on my case.”

“You got it.”

A quick trip to the bartender, and she’s back to Jerk-face McGee. She sets the drink in front of him, the sweetness of her voice like acid in her mouth. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

“Some space,” the man retorts. “Unless it’s to refill my drink or bring me my food, I have no more use for you.”

“ _Fuck you_ ,” she says to herself, jaw clenching to mask her irritation. She walks away, in no hurry to return to his table any time soon. She’s back behind the counter, taking in a breath to ease her frustration.

Immediately, Kayla is by her side. “Are you mad?” she asks, with a slight touch of concern. “What did he say to you?”

Katie sighs, closing her eyes. It’s nothing to get worked up over; she’s dealt with insensitive jerks before. Maybe it’s just been a while and that’s why he’s thrown her off.

“Nothing,” she says plainly, and begins to wipe down some menus. Her eyes are glued to the task she’s doing. It’s cathartic and lets her release some of the tension. The sooner he’s gone, the better. “He’s just some entitled dick.”

“You’re handling it better than Christine,” Kayla mentions off handedly, rapping her glossy manicured nails on the wood. “What a freak. He’s still looking at our tablecloths. Like he thinks they’re going to catch fire or something.”

“Well, he would have a valid complaint then,” Katie raises her eyes at the thought, and a smile tugs at the corner of her lips. “I think he’d still be more upset about the tablecloth, though.”

Kayla snickers, and Katie feels more of the tension leave. She admires how nothing ever stresses Kayla out. She wishes she could be that carefree. Right now, she feels all the nerves inside her bundled together tightly, waiting until she can release them.

Brave she may be, or perhaps she’s just especially careful on concealing herself. It’s not necessarily something she’s put a lot of thought into. It’s just simply second nature. She’s not an extrovert like Kayla, or over emotional like Christine. So to have this man unnerve her is a bit disconcerting.

But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. He’ll get his food, pay, and leave. She won’t have to deal with him. End of story.

If only it was easy to convince her racing heart of that.

She looks up, and she almost regrets it, for he’s waving her over. No, he’s _snapping his fucking fingers_ at her. Kayla’s mouth opens in slight shock.

“Is that guy really?...” her friend can’t even finish her sentence.

The man gets a few glances sent his way, but no one pays attention for too long. With an internal sigh, Katie returns to him. “Can I help you?” she asks, more polite than friendly.

“You see my drink here?” he points out, pointing one long finger at the empty glass. “Do I have to spell it out for you, or can you use your minimum-wage brain to figure it out?”

Her jaw tightens visibly, and she bites the inside of her cheek. She’s beyond irritated. Now, she’s angry and that’s something she doesn’t want to be. It’s too early in the week to be angry.

“Sir, I apologize for not coming sooner. Please, let me go get you another,” she takes the empty glass from the table, perhaps with a bit more force than necessary. She can feel his eyes on her back as she retreats to the bar.

By the time she returns to bring him his drink and his food, before she can even utter a word, he waves her away. She’s glad. He’ll be out of her hair soon and she can breathe easier. She attends to her other, much nicer, and friendlier tables. She can be petty when she wants to be, so she lays it on extra thick when attending to their needs, all in ear shot of the man.

When she asks if she can do anything else for him, he doesn’t even answer her. Not with words, anyhow. He simply hands her his card to run through the machine. Good, she can finally be rid of him.

A long time ago, Katie would have gawked at the cards the people here handed her. Platinum and black cards were the norm here. Making her own pale in comparison to their sheer amount of wealth. She runs it through the chip-reader, taking in the name on the card.

Her first initial thought, is who the fuck names their kid Cale? Isn’t that a vegetable? The names you found on people nowadays.

He doesn’t even wish her a good day when he leaves. Grabbing his coat from the attendant, he stalks out the swinging front doors. She lets out a sigh of relief and an old woman from the table next to his chuckles.

“I’m sure he’s just had a bad day,” the old woman reassures her as Katie hands her the check. “Try not to let grumpy people bother you.”

She quietly agrees. He did look rather upset when he left, but that’s not her problem anymore. The worst thing he can do now is leave a Yelp review that Ross will find. Her boss will offer him a Restaurant credit and she’ll probably get a talking to. She’s never had a complaint before, so she doubts she’ll get fired.

Ross is a people pleaser. He cares more about the customer’s money than his employees. This doesn’t surprise her; especially since it takes a lot to keep a restaurant afloat in cities. He’s always been nice to her, which she can’t say the same for some of the others. He has a compliment for her every time they see one another, and he goes out of his way to talk to her…

Shit, maybe Roberto was right.

When she opens the check holder to see how much he left her, she bites her tongue. She’s been poorly tipped before, but this…this was just petty.

“He tipped me 99 cents,” she says aloud, and Kayla pats her arm sympathetically.

“He didn’t leave Christine anything except,” she tells her. “Except a note that said Ross should fire her.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah,” Kayla nods, frowning, but it disappears quickly. She takes Katie by the arm again, grinning. “The three of us should go out on Saturday. We’re all working the morning shift, so we should go out in the evening.”

It does sound fun, she won’t deny that. She’s been working hard lately, and it’s been awhile since they last had a girl’s night. The bar they like to frequent to isn’t far from her apartment either.

“Why not?” she shrugs, and her evening has just brightened up a bit more. “Sounds fun.”

“Great, I’ll just text Christine and let her know.”

Katie settles back against the podium, observing the restraint. It’s almost eight-thirty, and a Monday, so there’s not as many people as before. She’s almost done for the night, tired, but excited for the weekend. She’ll have fun with her friends, and nothing can go wrong.

Not even Jerk-face McGee can ruin her week.

~

“ _You’re killing him!_ ”

“ _You’re killing him_!”

“ _Just stop! Please, you’re killing him_!”

Cale awakes to the sound of a gunshot that only exists in his head. He bolts upright in bed, chest heaving and cold sweat sticking to his face. It’s hard to breathe as he forces air from his lungs. The screaming in his head won’t stop. She won’t shut the fuck up.

It’s been awhile since he last had this dream. Not since Sacramento a year and a half ago. There’s been peace, and his thoughts are his own again. Not his father’s and especially not _hers_.

There’s an itching in his skin, one that won’t go away no matter how hard he scratches. He can’t quite reach it, try as he might. He wants to scream, and suddenly every one of his senses is heightened. He’s aware of every single fiber of silk against his skin, and his clothes are pressing down against him.

The horse is in his mind, screaming at the whip lashing at its skin. The woman is screaming, and she won’t stop. She’s still wailing as he pulls his ears so hard he thinks they might tear off.

None of it would have happened if the horse had just followed his instructions. The woman needn’t have died if she would have listened to him and stopped her incessant crying. If she hadn’t of threatened him; tried to run off to go tell his father, she would still be alive.

Cale screams into his pillow. The sound raw and bloody. He needs to get his thoughts under control. He wants to tear her out of his head and rip her apart till she’s nothing but a mangled corpse.

He abhors the woman and the horse. He hates his father for shoving him in a mental institutions for years. He hates his mother for shoving the pills down his throat because they were “good for him.”

Cale shudders a breath, chest heaving against the sheets. He knows why the dream reared its ugly head. Chaos has returned. Bringing with it unholy defiance. A spark that lights a fire that will consume all in its path.

He stumbles his way to his office, opening the browser to his computer. It shows where he last left off; Facebook, with a certain image pulled up. The stupid waitress from the restaurant earlier that evening. So stupid that she didn’t even notice him take a photo of her. One quick photo search and there she was.

Kathleen “Katie” Hopgood. Age twenty-seven, birthday January 15, 1991. Waitress at _The Nightingale_ for seven years. Originally from Eureka, Utah.

Her social media account is practically empty. She rarely posts on it, only really updating when she has a new profile pic or recommending some god-awful band. Her last update was on her birthday two months ago. There’s nothing about her family, or reminiscent posts about her childhood. All her friends are people who live in Portland, some of them from out of state.

His lips twist into a frown, barely masking the rage. She’s the reason for the nightmares returning. He hasn’t had these nightmares in a long time, his control over them like an iron grip.

He leans his head into his hands. He’s losing control and he can’t have that. He won’t allow it.

He noticed her the second the host sat him down at the table. Compared to the tall woman next to her, she was tiny. Her honey-colored hair tossed messily into a bun. He noticed every individual strand, hands itching to force her down and redo it. The restaurant claimed to have professional, well trained staff, but she was anything but that.

Oh, she spoke politely enough. She didn’t raise her voice at him, but he saw it there. That spark. That defiance that he hated so much.

Cale notices everything, including minute details that others would brush off. He noticed the way her jaw clenched, as though it were a great effort restraining herself. Her eyes burned behind the fake customer service smile. They burned rebelliously, with an independent streak he did not like, at all.

She’s a pretty young foal, prancing around as though she owns the place. She’s young and as free as the wind. She is a force unto herself, stubborn and uncouth. The spark in her is unrestrained, and he hates that more than the foal.

He wets his lips in anticipation. It’s an excitement; a thrill to break in a new foal. She’s practically screaming at him for guidance, and oh, he will give it to her. She needs a firm hand to reign in her chaotic nature. And he will be that hand.

Cale grins. Her training has just begun, and she doesn’t even know it yet. He’ll do a little more digging and start preparing her new home. He is the decider, the law of order, and she will fall into line. Even if she kicks and screams along the way, as foals are prone to do.

He will shape her. Mold her into his own creation. She will be beautiful by the end of it.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this fandom is small, but I have to admit I'm a bit surprised no one has written anything for Katie. I adored Kerry Condon in HBO Rome, and she seems like a really fun person to hang around. So, I took it upon myself to write Katie's character and I have to say, it's been fun to flesh her out. 
> 
> And yes, I am aware of the deleted scene that says she's married. But I have decided that if the movie didn't feel like adding that in, then I don't really consider it canon. So for my fic here, she is not married. Just wanted to clear that up before anyone asks.
> 
> As for Cale, a lot of my inspiration for him comes from Tumblr user @obsessionsarenotforheroes. If you have Tumblr, seriously go check them out. I'm generally not into roleplays, but the way they write Cale is absolutely amazing and the head-canons really flesh him out as a character. So I will be giving them some credit in the way I imagine and write Cale.
> 
> But I will leave you here for now. Thanks for checking out my story, and if you would like to see more, let me know! Comments are always appreciated, as I love feedback. I plan to have this all up by the end of the month, seeing as this is mostly finished. I hope you all are staying safe out there, and I will see you all soon. Bye!


End file.
